The waking state, sleep with dream state, and deep sleep state are the three states of the average person’s life; back and forth between these states they go at least once or twice every day of their life. They don’t experience the fourth state—Atman, the light of infinite consciousness—until the body is worn out and forced to drop, and the event of death occurs.

To a state of consciousness that has only been accustomed to cycling back and forth between the waking, dream, and deep sleep states, this event is so profound and so alarming that it isn’t remembered—like a blackout between the moment of death and the moment of rebirth. We can’t remember the conditions of past lives, can’t remember dying, can barely remember being born.

Meditation is the way in which one prepares oneself to experience infinite consciousness, to meet God. This is no different than anything else you’ve learned to do in this life; by directing your attention fully to the matter at hand, you gain awareness and understanding of that which you are seeking.